Elizabeth Gaskell 
Cranford 

The women of an English country village star in this Victorian classic that inspired a BBC series, from the author of North and South.   Welcome to Cranford, where everyone knows one another and a cow wears pajamas. It’s a community built on friendship and kindness, where women hold court and most of the houses—and men—are rarely seen. Two colorful spinster sisters at the heart of Cranford, Miss Matty and Miss Deborah Jenkyns, are daughters of the former rector, and when they’re not playing cards or drinking tea, they’re feeding an endless appetite for scandal and weathering commotions to their peaceful lives, from financial troubles to thieves to an unexpected face from the past.   First published in installments in Household Words, a magazine edited by Charles Dickens, Cranford was a hit of its time and today offers modern readers a glimpse into a small English town during the mid-nineteenth century.